Walt Landers, who had worked with many of tennis' elite performers, passed away this past week of complications resulting from a recently diagnosed brain tumor. The Polish born physical trainer/massage therapist was 53 years old.
Nicknamed "Hurricane" for his boundless amounts of energy, Walt came onto the pro tennis scene in 1990, following a career in the cycling world. The players with whom he traveled over the years could be confused with a list of future Hall of Fame inductees; Agassi, Sampras, Safin, Kafelnikov and Hewitt to name but a few. An avid runner, he had competed in marathons around the world and it was not unusual for him to put in several hours of morning roadwork before matches started for the day.
The tour will miss his passion for the players and his devotion to the sport of tennis.

i borrowed this from ttw board. i thought some might be interested to know here. http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=123416

Than she had to go type her blog and I was left all by myself but that was until Walt or Waltczek Lantzcerovski saw me and decided to explain to me how your body extracts sugars from your liver rather than your muscles.

Waltczek is a massage therapist and an occasional fitness trainer. This week he works with Nikolay Davydenko. I guess Nikolay hired him to retrain his body to extract glucose from his liver instead of his muscles. Waltczek is Polish. But he is a self proclaimed communist and had to change his name and residence so he can practice his beliefs without Big Brother breathing down his neck. Now he resides in Las Vegas where he opened a small school for marathon runners. After about half an hour of pointless conversation and fruitless attempts to find out why he changed his name I have to go back to the hotel so I get my racquets and go to transportation.

jole

10-08-2006, 10:40 PM

Wow, what a shame. Walt was a character and will be missed.

Whistleway

10-08-2006, 11:53 PM

Just read it in the other forum. It's sad and i pray that he rest in peace.

Corey Feldman

10-09-2006, 12:10 AM

think he was with murray earlier this year...
guy with the mad hairdo
wow

Regenbogen

10-09-2006, 12:20 AM

wow that's too bad :sad:

lunahielo

10-09-2006, 12:29 AM

:sad: :sad: :sad:

belco

10-09-2006, 12:31 AM

:sad:

Action Jackson

10-09-2006, 01:36 AM

I can't believe the fitness freak has died at a young age and he was everywhere on the tour and a unique guy for sure.

Kristen

10-09-2006, 01:40 AM

Damn. I thought the name sounded a little familiar. So young :sad: He looked so well....
http://www.safinator.com/images/waltlanders.jpg

Tennis Fool

10-09-2006, 02:20 AM

Wow, I wonder when he was diagnosed? I remember reading about him in the Safin forum and how he used to drive Marat crazy by talking too much.

So sad.

~EMiLiTA~

10-09-2006, 04:08 AM

i cannot believe this...i met him several times at lots of tournaments

sad news :sad:

Choupi

10-09-2006, 04:18 AM

He will be missed.

Ome

10-09-2006, 04:59 AM

:sad:

He did so many great things for the sport and I'm thankful for that... he will be missed :sad:

Saumon

10-09-2006, 05:25 AM

think he was with murray earlier this year...
guy with the mad hairdo
wow
really? I had chatted with him less than one year ago and he said he wanted to work with murray... he also told us that "sampras was a monkey" and "marat was not stable mentally" :lol: It will be weird not to see him at tournaments... :awww:

atheneglaukopis

10-09-2006, 05:29 AM

really? I had chatted with him less than one year ago and he said he wanted to work with murray... he also told us that "sampras was a monkey" and "marat was not stable mentally" :lol: It will be weird not to see him at tournaments... :awww:Breaking news...:eek:

leng jai

10-09-2006, 06:45 AM

Oh damn, he was sitting in Safin's box for AO 2005 :(

~EMiLiTA~

10-09-2006, 06:46 AM

Oh damn, he was sitting in Safin's box for AO 2005 :(

he was at AO this year too, but not working with marat

dkw

10-09-2006, 09:11 AM

This sucks!!! Just goes to show there's no benefit in exercising. RIP Walt!

*Ljubica*

10-09-2006, 10:08 AM

Like EmiLiTA, I met Walt many times along the way in my tennis travels - he was aways fun and always had time for a chat. I am totally shocked and saddened to hear this news this morning and my heart goes out to his family. RIP Walt - I will miss you on the circuit.

Action Jackson

10-09-2006, 10:15 AM

Not seeing Walt around will take some getting used to.

LaTenista

10-09-2006, 12:16 PM

He was working with Srichaphan at Cincy this year. :awww: I never talked to him but it will be strange not seeing him around anymore.

Goonergal

10-09-2006, 12:50 PM

It will be weird not to see him at tournaments... :awww:
Definitely. I didn't even realise he was sick. What a shame.

Corey Feldman

10-09-2006, 03:09 PM

Oh damn, he was sitting in Safin's box for AO 2005 :(and 04.

he had helped Marat train in december to come back from bad form/and ranking to reach the final that year.

lucindia

10-09-2006, 04:00 PM

:sad: i feel so bad right now........He was special, but i loved talking to him...He had his own vision of the way of living, he seemed crazy but was defenietly not...I will miss talking to him...I'll pray for him

pistolmarat

10-09-2006, 05:04 PM

a great guy, terrific trainer :awww:

Vass

10-09-2006, 06:06 PM

:speakles:

mallorn

10-09-2006, 07:45 PM

Very sad news. It happened so quickly too, I remember still seeing him on TV late in the summer. :sad:

Sue

10-09-2006, 08:40 PM

Really sad news- he was quite a character and will be sadly missed.

supersexynadal

10-09-2006, 09:05 PM

aww...wasnt he the guy who was rumored to be back with safin or what?

SwissMister1

10-10-2006, 02:25 AM

I remember him and his crazy hair, he will be missed

Broomie

10-10-2006, 06:50 AM

Wow. Dead. I was just thinking about him the other day, wondering who was he working with. He helped so many players throughout the years, and really knew his stuff.
May he rest in peace.

leng jai

10-10-2006, 07:11 AM

and 04.

he had helped Marat train in december to come back from bad form/and ranking to reach the final that year.

Yeah I noticed that yesterday when I was watching my Safin Roddick Aus Open 2004 tape.

Emilie85

10-12-2006, 09:08 AM

ATP TRIBUTE

October 11, 2006
Ljubicic Pays Tribute to Walt Landers

ATP World No. 3 and Player Council president Ivan Ljubicic today paid tribute to physical trainer Walt Landers, who passed away on October 6 due to complications resulting from a recently diagnosed brain tumor. He was 53 years old.

Ljubicic wore a black armband during his second round win over Florian Mayer at the BA-CA Tennis Trophy in Vienna and later paid tribute to Landers.

“His passing came so unexpectedly and left us ill prepared for this task. We never had a chance to say goodbye to Walt in person, never even had an inkling that something might be wrong with him,” said Ljubicic.

“I know I’m speaking on behalf of all the players when I say that Walt will be sorely missed. So many generations of players have come up the tour ranks while Walt was one of the most familiar faces in the locker room and the player lounge.

“He was the one person that always approached everyone, and always had a smile ready for everyone.”

Landers was a Polish-born physical trainer and massage therapist who worked with many of tennis’ elite performers on the ATP circuit including Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Marat Safin, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Lleyton Hewitt.

Darren Cahill, a former ATP pro and coach to Agassi and Hewitt, said: “Walt has touched our lives in so many ways over the years.

“He has been a permanent fixture in our sport for the last 17 years and his longevity alone attests to the amazing job he has done for his players over the last two decades.

“To his friends, Walt was known as 'Hurricane'. He lived life at a fast pace, trained himself to the point of exhaustion, and never shied away from a days hard work.

“His love of fitness and physical recovery was well known to all us, and while at times he would attempt to carry the worlds problems on his shoulders, he was a kind and generous man and his heart was always in the right place.

“He deserved a much better hand than the one dealt to him during the last month.”

ae wowww

10-12-2006, 09:15 AM

Spoke to him briefly afew times in the past, this is a sad surprise!

jmp

10-12-2006, 11:32 AM

Very sad. RIP

Adler

10-12-2006, 12:13 PM

RIP

bad gambler

10-12-2006, 12:17 PM

Really sad to hear - RIP

freesprint

10-12-2006, 01:54 PM

:sad::sad::sad:So sad, he will be missed.

RickDaStick

10-12-2006, 02:57 PM

Wow I rode with him in one of the shuttles from hotels to the tennis courts in Cincy a few years back, had no idea this was him until i saw the picture.

Anne-Claire

10-12-2006, 04:52 PM

Really sad news :sad: :sad:

RickDaStick

10-15-2006, 11:20 PM

Ivan Ljubicic: “I would like to dedicate this title to Walt Landers, who left us fast last week. He was a really kind man and left us unexpectedly. He has been on my mind the whole week really. I still cannot believe it and I think dedicating the title to him is the least I can do for him. The funeral will be on Tuesday and I really hope he will rest in peace.”

fadou

10-16-2006, 09:26 AM

really sad news

it's realy nice from ljubicic to say that
i think he was the only one to did a tribute for him_
not quotations from other player about that?

lucindia

10-16-2006, 10:01 AM

really sad news

it's realy nice from ljubicic to say that
i think he was the only one to did a tribute for him_
not quotations from other player about that?

I agree, that's very nice from Ivan....But i thought Marat would have said sthg in his blog for example....He deserve more than tribute from ONE player...